This is how much food Americans waste during the holidays

Do you remember when you were little and your mom would tell you to eat everything on your plate because there are other children starving around the world? Well, in just one day Americans waste so much Turkey that it could feed many countries.

According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit conservation group, over Thanksgiving, Americans wasted about 204 million pounds of turkey. The average turkey now a days weighs in at 30 pounds so that's about 6 million turkeys that essentially went in the trash.

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What's better than Thanksgiving? The day after of course

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What's better than Thanksgiving? The day after of course

Leftover Stuffing Waffles

"All the intensely savory, buttery, carb-tastic goodness of my very favorite Thanksgiving side dish is stuffed into a sizzling iron and made delightfully crispy on the outside, but fluffy and almost creamy inside, ready to tuck all the other Thanksgiving leftovers." - Two Red Bowls

"Sometimes all leftovers need is one new ingredient and they're transformed into a whole new meal. It's Thanksgiving dinner in a grilled cheese sandwich, which is a win all around because Thanksgiving dinner takes hours to make and this sandwich takes 5 minutes, tops." - The Whole Bite

"I’ve done plenty of leftover Turkey recipes after the holidays, and while those are fantastic and always delicious I decided to change it up in this Leftover Creamy Mashed Potato Soup Recipe! You don’t want to miss this one, it’s a keeper!" - Billy Parisi

"If your turkey is already gone, you’d better have a turkey on your Christmas menu – because you’re going to want leftovers!! And I’m hoping that you have just a little bit left, because these sandwiches are so good that you aren’t going to want to wait until Christmas!!" - Taste and Tell

The U.S. food waste crisis has Americans throwing away about 40% and it gets worse during the holiday season when Americans waste on average 5 million more pounds of food between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

But it is so much more than just the turkey itself. You also have to consider the amount of food, water, and labor that goes into raising those turkeys. That's a lot of wasted resources.

So during this holiday season think about the people that could be fed when you throw away your food and instead give leftovers to friends and family, and if all else fails there is always the freezer!